Citizen Staff Writer
Law and Order Report
SHERYL KORNMAN
skornman@tucsoncitizen
A 2-year-old Tucson girl remains hospitalized in Phoenix with injuries police allege were inflicted by her mother Dec. 31.
The incident took place at her residence, Tucson police said.
Police arrested Shonda Harper, 39, Feb. 4. She is in the Pima County Jail on a felony charge of child abuse. Bail has been set at $50,000.
The child abuse case is described on the Arizona Department of Economic Security’s Web site.
The site provides some details on abuse or neglect cases that involve the death or “near-death” of a child.
Officer Charles Rydzak, a Tucson police spokesman, said Harper was initially arrested in December after police responded to a 911 call reporting suspected child abuse. An outstanding felony warrant in a Texas case delayed her jailing here in the abuse case.
Rydzak said he could not disclose details about the injuries to the child. She was taken to University Medical Center and then airlifted to a hospital in Phoenix, he said.
The other children in the home were turned over to the state’s Child Protective Services. Rydzak said he could not disclose the ages of the children. They apparently were not physically harmed.